Video: Zola Jesus, "Vessel"

The cool thing about watching Zola Jesus progress, is that since the beginning, her music always sounded like it was destined to become expensive. Not like her songs cost more money on iTunes or anything, but this music is designed to be huge layered and darkly bombastic. Also there should be weird outfits. "Vessel" feels like that arrival, probably because of the white sand dunes she's standing on, but definitely because everything—from the song down to the environment in the video—feels so crisp and clear. A concentrated vision from an artist that has been inching toward this moment for her whole career. In a serendipitous move, this video, directed by Jacqueline Castel, premiered on the T Magazine blog the very same day we put our Zola Jesus cover story on the internet, so you can read it when you're done watching Zola Jesus belt out sad stuff beautifully. Watch the video right here, and catch her live at the dates below.